This progress is evidenced by India’s status as one of the largest producers of fruits, vegetables, and dairy, aided by the veterinary sciences and animal husbandry. In 1974, India conducted its first nuclear test (Operation Smiling Buddha) in Pokhran, moved towards enhancing its energy production, and by 1975, it had developed its own satellite, Aryabhata. Initially dependent on imports such as US wheat and tinned milk from the Netherlands, India quickly achieved food self-sufficiency by invoking “Green Revolution” which was followed by “White Revolution” through Amul Cooperative Society, and “Poultry Revolution”. From the 1980s, various Technology Missions helped achieve such goals. The flagship programmes of the Indian government to improve the nutritional status of children and reduce incidence of malnutrition through the Integrated Child Development Scheme and Mid-Day Meal Scheme are exemplary, not to say of other pro-poor welfare schemes and rural development. Even, the first wave of Indian professionals to work abroad included graduates from the world-class technical institutions established in the post-independence era.

However, despite these noteworthy foundational accomplishments, the quality of research and innovation in India has stagnated over the past two to three decades. This is alarming, particularly because other nations—including the countries that lagged far behind India just 40–50 years ago—have rapidly advanced. With a population of 1.4 billion, a growing focus on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, and a shortage of job opportunities, India is today at a crucial juncture. Addressing these challenges requires a unified effort from the government, the academia-intelligentsia, and industry. Through appropriate policies, resources, and a shift in research culture, India will acquire the potential to regain its place as a global leader in research and innovation.

Nonetheless, for action after introspection, the relevant data pertaining to our research performance are quite troubling. Some of these may be elaborated below: 

1. Citation Impact: According to the “Scimago Journal & Country Rank” (SJR), which assesses academic impact globally, India ranks outside the top 100 countries for citations per document across all subject areas (https://www.scimagojr.com/countryrank.php), including Sciences, Life Sciences, Engineering, Humanities and Social Sciences. Indian research averages only 12.7 citations per document, significantly trailing countries like the United States, Canada, and scores of countries in Europe, which exceed 25-30 citations per paper. Researchers from several Asian countries, including Saudi Arabia (17.6), Nepal (15.2), Oman (15.1), and Bangladesh (14.5), also surpass India in citation impact. While India performs slightly better in Engineering and Sciences, its ranking is notably lower in Arts and Humanities.

2. H-Index Ranking: India is not among the top 20 nations in terms of the h-index across all subject areas, which measures scientific productivity and citation impact. Although India has largest population, the number of citable documents produced (2.7 million) is significantly lower than that of countries like the USA (14 million) and China (10 million). Particularly the emphasis is quite less in publishing in high ranked journals in the fields of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities.

3. Top-tier [Q1] Journal Publications: High-ranking institutions are often evaluated by their contributions to Q1 (top quartile) journals, representing the top 25% in each field. India’s highest-ranking institutions—the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS, New Delhi)—are positioned only at 1346 and 1360 globally.

(https://www.scimagoir.com/rankings.php?sector=Higher+educ.&country=IND).

For example, if one looks(Fig.1) at the declining publications in the journals of repute by the researchers at a highest funded, historic and a largest residential public university, the Aligarh Muslim University(AMU), then the scenario gets quite depressing, hence, a matter of great concern.

Fig.1: The research ranking of the Aligarh Muslim University refers to the volume, impact and quality of the institution’s research output. On the X-axis is year and Y-axis is global ranking.
Source: https://www.scimagoir.com/institution.php?idp=3231#google_vignette

4. Global Innovation Index (GII): In the 2024 Global Innovation Index, India ranked 39th out of 160 economies (https://www.wipo.int/gii-ranking/en/india), indicating room for improvement in innovation capacity.

5. Patent Generation: India granted only 0.03 million patents compared to 0.8 million in China and 0.3 million in the United States, illustrating a significant lag in protecting and commercializing intellectual property.

For instance, if one looks (Fig.2) at the declining number of innovation ranking of AMU, the issue is again quite alarming.

Fig.2: The innovation ranking of the Aligarh Muslim University, which is calculated on the number of patent applications of the institution and the citations that its research output receives from patents. On the X-axis is year and on Y-axis is innovation ranking.
Source: https://www.scimagoir.com/institution.php?idp=3231#google_vignette

Root causes of this decline in our academia:

In our estimation, several factors contribute to India’s declining research quality and innovation output, such as:

1. Evaluation standards focused on quantity: Academic institutions often emphasise the quantity of publications rather than quality. Shifting focus to high-impact research would reward rigorous, ethical research practices and enhance India’s international credibility. Prioritising quality over quantity attracts international collaborations and investment, creating an environment that promotes scientific integrity. Strict standards for recruitment, based purely on merit and publication in reputable journals and books, are sometimes compromised. Promotions to higher-level positions are not stringently monitored by institutions. People who publish in journals or magazines that are not even indexed by the h-index are often promoted readily. Publications with publishers that lack rigorous standards and anonymous peer review are accepted without scrutiny. Furthermore, student feedback in both letter and spirit is frequently ignored in universities and colleges.

The primary focus of faculty members in academic institutions therefore should remain on their core responsibilities of research and teaching. These activities not only contribute to personal academic growth but also significantly enhance the institution’s reputation and academic excellence. Engaging in meaningful research furthers the frontiers of knowledge, while effective teaching shapes the next generation of scholars and professionals.

2. Insufficient R&D investment: India’s research and development expenditure is less than 0.7% of GDP, placing it outside the top 150 countries for R&D investment.

In contrast, the developed nations such as the USA (3.5%), Germany (3.1%), and Israel (5.5%) allocate much more for R&D. Even some developing countries, such as Cuba (11.5%) and Oman (6.8%), outspend India in this area. Thus, adequate funding is essential for basic research, which forms the foundation for applied sciences and technology development. This is why it is paramount to strengthen basic research laboratories. 

3. Inadequate focus on basic sciences: Without robust fundamental research in the basic sciences, the applied researches cannot progress. Industries often hesitate to fund basic research due to its indirect, long-term returns. However, government’s substantial financial support is essential here. Breakthroughs in medical technologies, like X-rays, MRI, PET scans, and radiotherapy were made possible by early investments in basic sciences. To foster innovation, India must prioritize basic research alongside applied sciences.

4. Urgent need for financial support in colleges and public universities: To ensure the quality of education in colleges and public universities, it is imperative to prioritise financial support for critical infrastructure. Laboratory courses, which are central to hands-on learning, have been significantly affected by the lack of equipment. Decades ago, these institutions boasted better-equipped laboratories, allowing students to explore and innovate. However, over the past four to five decades, there has been a marked deterioration in these facilities, leaving many students unable to gain practical skills in key areas. Equally concerning is the condition of libraries, which are fundamental to fostering independent learning and research. Many institutions struggle to maintain updated collections of books, journals, and other resources due to insufficient funding. Addressing this issue is vital to bridging the gap between students’ learning potential and the resources available to them.  Moreover, the shortage of faculty members poses a significant challenge. In many colleges, the faculty strength is considerably below the required levels, compromising the quality of instruction and mentorship.  This situation directly impacts the ability of institutions to maintain academic rigor and to support students effectively.  

5. Limited Institutional Autonomy: Granting universities and research institutions more academic and administrative autonomy would enable them to respond quickly to emerging research needs. Accountability frameworks should be in place to uphold ethical standards, ensuring that institutions remain credible and internationally competitive.

A Curious Case of the AMU: Nepotism and Inbreeding Corroding Meritocracy

Let the foregoing discussion be illustrated with the instance of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), a significantly funded, large residential university. There appears to be an increasing trend where around 20% to 25% of the AMU teachers perennially prioritise grabbing administrative positions including those positions traditionally designated only for the non-teaching staff. Extracting this undue benefit has gone up to the extent that even the positions of the statutory officers are filled in on ad hoc basis, in flagrant violation of the UGC rules, and even on illegal basis, as revealed in a recent information obtained through the RTI Act 2005. Some of these “Non-Teaching Professors” have delayed obtaining their PhD degree and have been happily continuing in the administrative positions.

This sorry state of affairs is owing to the fact that, this is often to gain associated “material” benefits over and above salary, including, institutional vehicles with drivers and security personnel serving as domestic servants of the teacher-officers, at the expense of the University exchequer. Many of these teachers have been holding such positions for an outrageously long time, for the last many years, uninterruptedly. Their poor CVs, with no significant/respectable research output, adversely affect the ranking of the University.

AMU, unlike all other central universities (CUs), has got an overwhelming hegemony of the internal teachers inside its Executive Council which also empanels its Vice Chancellors. In the last two empanelment (2017 and 2023), only internal teachers have succeeded in becoming AMU-VCs. This aggravates the practice of nepotism and inbreeding in recruitments and promotions, at the expense of meritocracy. This has had an additional corrosive effect on research output of AMU.

Having developed deeply entrenched, strong clout, they incapacitate successive VCs and create layers of red-tapism just in order to harass and humiliate academically accomplished teachers. The overall atmosphere and ecosystem of the University is made anti-academic. The academically productive ones are harassed by delaying/denying promotions to them, as the VCs are perennially under the pressure of this internal hegemony. Internal teachers becoming as VCs of AMU do not have the independence (or guts) to act against these interests with whom they have been living, working and will continue to live with them even after completing their tenures as VC!

Non-teaching positions are typically designed to support administrative and operational functions, ensuring the smooth running of the University, and are best suited for personnel with expertise in these areas. Unfortunately, these roles are increasingly being used for personal advantage, benefiting the teachers themselves, their family members, and their friends. At some places, the prolonged (rather than a brief tenure) occupation of such positions has led to the formation of regional and sub-regional layers of hegemony and therefore unbridled nepotism in enrolments, recruitments and promotions. These maladies are actively destroying the academic ethos of teaching and research.

Needless to say, this shift in focus dilutes the academic mission and also undermines the intended division of responsibilities within the universities.

By prioritising research and teaching over such non-academic roles, faculty members can better align with the university’s objectives of fostering an environment of intellectual rigour and student development. Clear policies and guidelines can further help delineate responsibilities, ensuring that non-teaching roles are fulfilled efficiently by the appropriate staff while enabling faculty members to concentrate on their academic and scholarly pursuits. This alignment benefits not only the institution but also the broader academic community.

Just as in AMU, other universities too must have got their own general as well as more specific problems. Insiders of those universities also need to expose their endemic problems on these counts.

By tackling the abovementioned critical challenges head-on, India can revitalise its research ecosystem and emerge as a dominant force in the global knowledge economy. Is the government really prepared to listen?

Achieving this vision calls for a concerted effort: substantial government funding, a robust fellowship system based purely on merit, and strong collaboration between academia and industry. With strategic investments, a transformative approach to academic assessment, and greater institutional autonomy, India is poised not only to advance ground-breaking research and innovation but also to become a global beacon of knowledge and progress.

Sajjad Athar is a Professor of Physics at AMU, Aligarh, a renowned name in nuclear physics, a co-author with the Nobel Laureate Prof. Takaki Kajita who tweets @Mohamma84063425;  Mohammad Sajjad is a Professor of History at AMU who tweets @sajjadhist.

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The Non-Collegiate Women’s Education Board (NCWEB) Centre of the University of Delhi, where I teach, was the examination centre for SOL students. The NCWEB Centres, which are run at many colleges of the University of Delhi, provide education to women students and give graduate degrees to the successful candidates. Although the NCWEB follows the Delhi University syllabus, the classes for the NCWEB students are held on Sundays, Saturdays and holidays. When regular classes are not held because of holidays, NCWEB students get little opportunity to study.

The courses are run for a short period at the NCWEB Centres. The big syllabus is expected to be completed within a short period of two to three months. The number of classes for a course is far less than required. But over the years, they have been further reduced. As a result, both students and teachers of NCWEB Centres are under huge pressure to finish the course in a short while. Let me accept the fact that on many occasions, both teachers and students fail in their pursuit.

Worse still, the students and the teachers of NCWEB are not allowed to consult the college library and borrow books as regular students and teachers of the college do. In a graded system of education, NCWEB students and teachers face discrimination at the hands of college authorities. They are treated far below that of permanent teachers and regular students. The NCWEB teachers, who teach the same course as the regular teachers, do not get a monthly salary. Their gross income in a year would be around 1.5 lakh, which means less than Rs. 13,000 per month. What could be a worse case of labour law violation than this by looking at the fact that the payment is made to teachers several months after the end of the teaching job. Against this tough condition, hundreds of teachers including myself, teach at NCWEB Centres.

Both teachers and students are the victims of the exploitative system. While students do not get an opportunity to study at a regular college, despite having scored high marks in the previous exams, the permanent teaching jobs, which are getting few under privatisation, go to those who have strong political connections. Those who are critical and have independent thinking are likely to face exclusion. Among such excluded lot, a large number of them work as teachers in informal sectors. NCWEB teachers are treated as worse than the casual workers by Delhi University.

The ground reality of the “prestigious” Delhi University should be kept in mind to observe how the education system has become exploitative and fallen into the propaganda machine for the ruling party.

While entering the college, I went to my classroom to find that it had been turned into an examination hall. Soon after we went to another building to hold our classes. While walking to the classroom, I was thinking about the abysmal educational infrastructure in our country. Several questions came to mind: why do our youths not get proper opportunity to study? If a democratic state fails to provide a quality education to its citizens, does it deserve to be called a democratic? Such a question haunted my mind.

When the class was over, I was returning to the main gate to exit from the college.

Suddenly, my eyes fell on a “selfie point”. A blow-up of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was visible there. Later, I came to learn about the fact that the selfie point had been constructed by the college authority. Recently the UGC issued guidelines to the university to erect a selfie point at a prominent place so that students could take pictures and they could develop a “collective pride” over “India’s achievements in various fields”, reported the web portal Wire. When the UGC policy to promote the “cult building” of Modi was widely criticized, the UGC withdrew its direction. The authorities in my college seem to be hesitant to take note of such a withdrawal notice.

It has been experienced that the college authority often does not act promptly in case a request is made to provide students with basic facilities. But in the case of erecting selfie points, it has acted at lightning speed. This points to the location of the priority of the administration.

This is one of the classical examples of how our public educational institutions are fast turning into the propaganda machinery for the establishment, while at the same time failing to give basic facilities to students, teachers and non-teaching staff. It appears that Delhi University is using public money to self-promote the image of a particular leader. Earlier, the same job was being done by the mainstream media. It does not miss any opportunity to indulge in hero-worship and give all credit to Prime Minister Modi for every success. But when failures occur, the same media makes the opposition parties a scapegoat. For example, if the BJP won elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, it was because of Modi’s magic. But when the same party lost elections in Karnataka and West Bengal sometime back, the mainstream media blamed other than Modi for the defeat. The University administration appears to be falling into the roles of Godi journalists.

The Selfie point with Modi’s image has not been put up for the first time at my college. From book fairs to trade fairs, such selfie points with Modi’s photo were erected earlier. The new development is that the educational centres have also been brought within the ambit of propaganda machinery.

These developments are manifestations of the rot in our educational institutions system. The acts of hero-worship and self-promotion of a particular leader pose a serious threat to our democracy. If such a trend is not counter deed, our democratic system will become more authoritarian. They signal an abject absence of autonomy.

Look at the double speak of the Hindutva forces: while the BJP has often criticised student activists and activist intellectuals at the public university for politicising education, the same party is silent about the act of hero-worship in politics. Take the example of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Since the Modi Government came to power in 2014, JNU was demonised as “the den of anti-national activities”. The Hindu Right propaganda spread the myth that JNU students do not study and only indulge in politics to waste their time and the resources of the country. While the Hindu Right feel challenged by the politically conscious youth raising people’s issues at the university and outside, it does not consider anything wrong with the act of cult-making of a particular leader in a democracy. Worse still, this hero-worship is being institutionalised at the university which should act as an autonomous body.

The youth wing of the RSS/the BJP is the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). It claims to be the largest student body in the country. How many times has the mainstream media accused the ABVP leaders of doing politics at colleges and universities? Several leaders of the BJP, including Arun Jaitley, came from the ABVP, yet the saffron leaders are assumed to be “non-political” during their students’ days. Even the current Modi Government has two ministers from JNU: Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance of India and S. Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs. They are the product of the same JNU, which is being vilified as an “anti-national” university. These examples are given to underscore the fact that the Hindu Right never accepts the fact that it uses the university space to serve its petty agenda more than other political parties, yet it creates a myth that only the secular and left forces have politicized the university.

Hindutva forces have often argued that the university space has been misused by the secular/left forces but they never speak about how our education centres have been saffronised. From recruitment to the distribution of scholarships and projects, the political factor and one’s affiliation to the ruling party work more than the merit of the candidate and the strength of the work. Even the syllabus and courses have been modified to strain the country’s secular fabric. The falling of the educational institutes as a saffronised space could be better grasped by looking at the act of setting up selfie points ahead of the General Elections 2024.

The members of the ruling party may argue that there is nothing wrong in putting up the selfie point for the PM since he is the “0leader of the country”. If so is the case, then the image of the President, as the Head of State, may be a better option. In a Parliamentary system, the prime minister is first among the equals vis-à-vis his/her cabinet colleagues, then should not PM’s image along with all cabinet ministers also become part of the selfie point? Moreover, some may argue that Parliament is incomplete without the presence of strong opposition, should not the image of the opposition leaders be shown at the selfie point to give a message that Indian democracy has become quite mature? Is the ruling party ready to take up these questions?

Long back Babasaheb Dr. B. R. strongly criticised the culture of hero worship in politics. In 1943, he gave a lecture on “Ranade, Gandhi and Jinnah” and called hero-worship “dangerous to the country”. However, it appears that these negative trends have become stronger under the Modi Raj because even the autonomy of public education institutions has been eroded.

Those who do not see anything wrong in the selfie point with the image of Modi, are quite silent to see the formulation of the draconian policies by the JNU administration to curb student activism in JNU. Recently, the executive council of JNU passed a manual under which if a student is found protesting within the 100-metre radius of any administrative and academic building and around the residence of a member of the JNU community, he may be punished with a fine of Rs. 20,000 and rustication from the campus for two semesters.

Such a move is being justified in the name of depoliticising the educational spaces, yet how the university has come under threat under Modi Raj is being ignored by the mainstream media. The recent manual of the JNU administration goes against the fundamental rights of the Indian constitution to free speech and the right to dissent.

Look at the irony: while the self-promotion of Modi by the university administration is considered a “non-political act” by the mainstream media and the Hindu Right, the articulation of genuine grievance at university spaces by students is demonised as indulging in “dirty politics”. These examples show that our educational centres are fast becoming propaganda machinery for the ruling party and indulging in hero worship, while they are eroding spaces for the democratic voices. While public money is being misused for the cult-building Modi, the majority of the members of the education community, who work in informal sectors, suffer from the lack of basic facilities.

(Dr. Abhay Kumar is a Delhi-based journalist. He has taught political sciences at NCWEB Centres of Delhi University. Email: debatingissues@gmail.com)

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